User blog:Dot27/A story I'm working on
Feliciano and Romano travel to America By: Dot27 Prologue Feliciano is a young, red haired man who lives in Rome, Italy with his older brother, Romano, a brown-haired working aged man. They enjoy life in Rome but in 1915 when the government declares war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire Feliciano begins to worry about losing their home to war so the brothers decide to leave Italy for America. Was their trip worth it? Read ahead to find out! Chapter 1: Leaving Italy Feliciano walked around his small house looking for his big brother Romano. “Romano! Austria is invading Italy! We need to go to America!” he shouted when he finally gave up looking for Romano. Romano shot out from the kitchen, “I DO NOT want t0 leave this wonderful country Feliciano! It is fine here! I don’t care if Austria is coming! I want to stay here and cook my pasta and tomatoes!” His younger brother replied whining, “But Romannnoooooooo” “No.” The argument ended there but secretly Feliciano still wanted to leave. If Austria did invade Italy their home would be destroyed and the brothers were quite poor. Even if Romano didn’t agree with Feliciano the younger brother would leave anyway. The next day Feliciano asked again, “Romano we need to go to America. Will you come to America with me?” “No. I told you once before I am staying here, in Italy, where we’ve always lived.” “But big brother..” “I said no!” Romano replied firmly. “But Fratello, the Austrians will burn our house down.” “You do have a point there kid.” said Romano, his voice was gentle and he had seemed to have calmed down. The next day the brothers began earning the money to go to America. They cooked and sold their homemade pasta in the farmers market. Soon enough they had enough money for one ticket, then two. Romano and Feliciano were set. They bought two tickets and waited for the day when the brothers would board the ship. Chapter 2: Steerage Class When Romano got on the boat he instantly felt sick. It smelled, smelled like urine and stomach acid. There were bunk beds almost everywhere 3 or 4 bunks high. He wished he could at least be with his brother the way there. Feliciano followed Romano close behind wincing at the smell, “Eww, what is that!?” he practically screamed. “I don’t know.” Romano answered. Since steerage class was under the deck there was darkness everywhere. Romano just wanted to go home. When the boat started rocking Romano clenched his stomach, “Feliciano… I need a bucket..” “Eww gross…” Feliciano winced grabbing him a bucket from the sides of the small room. Sure enough Romano got seasick. At dinnertime almost no one ate the mushy potatoes and soggy meat because they were either sick or too afraid to eat it. The first day on the boat was a long day and soon it was time to go to bed. Romano and Feliciano did end up getting a bunk together. “Romano?” Feliciano whispered to his brother. “What Feliciano?” “I love you.” “I love you too little brother.” Chapter 3: Voyaging The next day at the breakfast table a blond haired man with deep-set blue eyes at down next to Romano. He looked lonely. “Hello Mr.” said Feliciano in a friendly voice. The man just nodded back smiling. “He might not speak Italian Feli.” said Romano to his younger brother. “No I do.” Replied the man in a thick German accent. “I’m Ludwig, and you are?” “Feliciano, and this is my brother Romano!” Romano replied back to Feliciano annoyed, “I can introduce myself.”, he walked away and let the two newfound friends chat. “Where are you going to Ludwig?” “I’m heading to America.” “I meant what city.” “Pittsburgh Pennsylvania.” “Me too!” Feliciano said with a smile. “Then I’ll be glad to see you there freund.” Ludwig replied smiling. The two friends stared out into the distance and waited for when the beautiful lady would come into view. Chapter 4: Oh say can you see~ Romano was awakened to the cheerful screaming of his younger brother, “We’re here! We’re here! Siamo qui!” “What?” he asked yawning and stretching. During the night his bags had fallen off the small bunk. “Look the statue!” he pointed out the single, small and dirty window. “How can you even see out of that!?” Romano replied scratching his head. “I just can! Anyway. The captain is letting us go out on to the deck. Wanna come!?” “Ugh. Fine, but you owe me 30 minutes of sleep…” Feliciano took his brother’s hand practically dragging him to the deck. Romano looked out at his surroundings, sea, sea, and more sea, but wait! In the distance he could see a shiny brown lady holding a torch. “Ah. America.” he whispered to himself as he lowered his eyelids in pleasure. “Maybe this won’t be so bad.” he thought. He turned around looking for his brother. Uh oh. Had he lost him!? He looked frantically around the deck. Finally he spotted him, on the edge of the boat laughing and giggling as he spread his arms out wide pretending to be a bird. Ludwig was behind him laughing even harder. “Hey guys wait up!” Romano screamed to them as he ran towards his buddies. Chapter 5: Ellis The boat ride to Ellis Island went pretty fast after the Statue of Liberty was in sight. About an hour. “I can’t believe I didn’t want to come to this beautiful place…” Romano sighed. “I know right!” said Feliciano cheerfully picking up his bags. The first and second class passengers were almost finished being inspected and it was almost time for the steerage class passengers to catch the ferry to Ellis Island. As Romano waited patiently he could hear Jews praying. It was quite beautiful. There were children playing, women crying in happiness to be here, and Feliciano, well Romano wasn’t even sure where he was. The ferry came after about 30 minutes and everyone was overjoyed. By then Feliciano had found his way back to his big brother. “What were you doing anyway?” Romano asked in curiosity. “Playing with Ludwig. You know if we get deported or he gets deported I might not be able to see him again..” Feliciano replied. “Don’t think that way! No one is getting deported!” Romano said shivering in fear. What if we did, what if I did, Feliciano wouldn’t have anyone to take care of him. He shook the thought from his mind and just in time. The ferry arrived only a minute after. The ferry was dirty but not as dirty as steerage class. Feliciano was sitting next to his friend yet again. It was captivating to see two different races together in harmony. Unfortunately it wouldn’t be that way in America, people were getting tired of immigrants and wanted the immigration laws to banish some races from entering, but now is now and now Romano and Feliciano were on the ferry taking them to Ellis Island. Ludwig laughed at one of Feliciano’s jokes. How old is Ludwig anyway? Romano wondered. He looked like he was in his early 20’s or late teen years. His thoughts stopped as someone screamed, “Look Ellis Island!” Sure enough right in front of them was a large building. Immigrants were rushing inside holding large suitcases and clothes on their backs. “I still can’t believe I’m here….” muttered Ludwig, “My country was going to join Austria and and fight yours. I couldn’t stay and watch my neighbors fall.” “Wow. That’s touching…” replied Romano staring at the ground. The ferry hit the shore. They were finally there. Romano grabbed his bags and stood up, “Ciao Ludwig if we shall never meet again.” Romano said to the German. “Abschied.” he replied waving. Chapter 6: Brother! Where are you!? “Romano.. I’m hungry..” whined Feliciano. “Wait until we set our bags down.. Then maybe I can get you something, after all we did bring plenty of money.” As the boys entered the baggage room they received a name tag. “What is this gibberish!?” Feliciano shouted. “Shh! Don’t yell, they might think that there’s something wrong with you.” Romano replied harshly. Some men took their bags from them and set them on the pile of bags in the corner of the room. Romano started walking towards the sandwich stand to get something for his brother who always seemed to be hungry. He turned around to ask Feliciano what he wanted and suddenly he was gone. Romano started to panic, this room was huge unlike the boat deck. He ran around looking for his brother, “Feliciano!? Feliciano!?” he called afraid that he had been taken away by the police because of yelling. Romano sighed, “I should just move on.” He began walking to the staircase when an officer walked up pushing his brother, Feliciano towards him, “Hello brother!” said Feliciano cheerfully. “Ugh…. where were you!?” “Over there.” he pointed to a staircase. Chapter 7: The staircase The brothers walked up the staircase. Romano was in front and going up them pretty fast. Since they had a staircase back at home he was used to it. “Brother Romano!” pleaded Feliciano. “Slow down please!” “No. Walk faster.” “But Romano….” panted Feliciano out of breath. At the top of the staircase one of the officers gave Feliciano a chalk marking. He squealed, “Oh no Romano! Are they going to deport me!?” he began to cry. “Probably not. Maybe it’s a gold star for doing such a good job.” replied Romano reassuringly although he had some doubts about his immature brother. He was 16 and still acting like a 10 year old. When they got to the top of the staircase Feliciano was rushed away from Romano by doctors, they said something to him but it was illegible in an unrecognizable language like English. Romano stood there in shock. He followed the officer's orders though following the crowd to the medical exam station. The inspectors pulled his eyelid down and looked in his eyes and on his hands for any sign of disease. The inspector gave a thumbs up and Romano was sent down the line. He was quickly aken to the side by another officer and a translator. The officer mumbled something then the translator spit it back out in Ittalian, “Your brother is going to be in the hospital for a while we need to check and see if he’s alright. We advise you to stay here until we check him out.” Romano nodded to the translator, “Graci.” He followed the officer to the hospital and sat outside and waited for the tests to be done. Chapter 8: Parents in America?! Just as Romano expected, Feliciano was fine and got out of the hospital a few moments later. They continued to the Great Hall for the legal exam. “How old are you?” parroted the interpreter. “16.” said Feliciano. “19.” said Romano following suit to his brother. The officer scribbled something down on a piece of paper. “Do you have parents within the US?” “N..no..” said Romano shivering. “Can we see your papers?” aksed the woman. “Here.” replied Romano handing her his and Feliciano’s papers. The officer nodded and wrote the answer down, “Thank you we don’t need anything more.” said the interpreter as she waved them off to the next station. “Did we make it?” asked Romano. “Probably.” replied the interpreter, “We’ll contact you if you didn’t.” Feliciano took Romano’s hand, “I’ll be happy if I can be wherever you are big brother.” “Me too.” Chapter 9: $20 As the brothers left the Great Hall they walked into a small room with a gate. If they had at least $20 they could get into the US from here. Romano looked around the room, there were immigrants trading their money for American dollars and babies crying. He clamped onto Feliciano’s hand so he wouldn’t run away. “$20 get your $20 here!” a man cried sitting on the top of the gate. Some of the immigrants would pay a small amount of change to borrow the money then they would give it back at the other side. “Brother brother! I think I dropped my dollar!” exclaimed Feliciano his eyes wide. “What.” growled Romano angrily. Thinking of what it would be like if he was the only one to make it to America. Life without his brother would be terrible. Even though Feliciano was really annoying and acted really underaged he was his brother and no matter what Romano loved him. “Nevermind! I found it! It was in my pocket!” Romano sighed in relief as Feliciano said those fateful words. “Now don’t lose it again!” “I won’t!” squealed Feliciano. They moved up in line and showed the officer their money, “You can pass.” the officer said flatly. Romano couldn’t believe he was finally in America, the land of the free. Here Prussia wouldn’t be attacking and he could be friends with people of any race. He smiled at the thought. Chapter 10: Crying at the Kissing Post After the boys got their luggage they headed out of the building. When they got outside there were families reuniting, families hugging. It was beautiful really. “Brother Romano.. A..are you crying?” piped up Feliciano. “It..It’s just so beautiful…” Romano replied sniffing. “I agree.” said Feliciano hugging his brother. “America truly is a wonderful place.” “Is Feliciano actually being punctual for once?” Romano thought, “America is wonderful isn't it.” he said wiping his tears away as they walked to catch yet another ferry to take them to Pittsburg. Chapter 11: Life in America “Order up!” Romano shouted form the kitchen of their new resterhaunt. Their new resterhaunt, Italia was doing quite well. The brothers lived in a house now, much bigger than the two room apartment that they lived in before. “Hey guys!Long time no see!” a husky German voice called from the dinign room. Romano stopped cooking and Felicano set down the plate. “LUDWIG!” Romano watched as Feliciano squealed and hugging his really only friend. “It’s been so long buddy.” Ludwig replied patting Feliciano on the back. “I know!” said Feliciano, “Why didn’t you come and visit us earlier!” “ Well. I’ve been working hard making weapons for the military but I see you guys are doing well.” “Yes.” Romano said wiping his hands on his apron and walking out of the kitchen. “You guys want to get lunch or something?” asked Ludwig detaching himself from the overjoyed Red-head. “I can make you something!” replied Romano cheerfully walking back in the kitchen to cook their lunch. “And to think I had my doubts about America.” he chuckled to himself. ~Finitura~ Category:Blog posts